Customer Reviews

Fearless (Full Screen)

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

There are directors making movies of modern cinema, and then there's Peter Weir. Here's a guy who has never gotten the commercial success of Spielberg, the artistic raves of Kubrick, but equals or surpasses them on so many levels. Case in point: Fearless, another great film in a slew of great Weir films that takes a genre and doesn't necessarily break from it but explores it in unexpected ways. The subject of choice is an airplane crash, of which Max Klein (Jeff Bridges, lacking a deserved Oscar nom for this one) is one of a few dozen survivors. While many would be racked with grief (he lost his best friend and business partner), Klein experienced an epiphany of peace and bravery that carries through his experiences post-crash as well. We've seen things of this vein so many times that I thought I knew where Fearless was going, but at each end I was surprised. I expected romantic subplots and the like, but Weir holds the film with a knowing, masterful grace that he fully concentrates into the character Bridges plays.

Fearless is less an exploration of grief than it is simply an intense look at the entire world of someone whose life is nearly taken. Rosie Perez receieved an Oscar nomination for her great work as a fellow survivor whom Max befriends, but the movie veers away from melodrama and woe-is-me theatrics even with them, instead showing what comfort we find among those who share our trauma. And Fearless never always seems like it's like the movie it appears to be, proof again of Weir's incredible talent of looking at a theme from another angle (what made Master and Commander an intimate character drama and not a mindless actioner). So much territory is covered in the film, yet it never seems dense, and the catharsis at the end is a payoff like none other. I found myself weeping at the film's magnificent finale - a lot - and yet the tears that Fearless elicits are not ones of sadness or happiness, but of satisfaction and pure emotional movement. It's nice to know there are directors out there who can make movies so powerful and yet never make us feel manipulated one bit. GRADE: A

Masterful director Peter Weir helms this story of a man who survives a plane crash, and hangs on to his newfound fearlessness to help others, while basically destroying himself. Jeff Bridges gives a riveting performance, one of his best, in the role of Max Klein. Before the crash, Max lived in a world like others, afraid of flying, and a victim of strawberry allergies. He becomes a hero as he seemingly saves the lives of several other survivors; one little boy is so taken with Bridges that he continues to visit him after the traumatic experience. Rosie Perez won an oscar nomination and deservedly so for her role as Carla, a young mother who blames herself for her little baby's death in the crash. Isabella Rosselini, as beautiful as ever, plays Bridges wife who tries to bring him back into the real world he so seemingly willingly left behind. Tom Hulce plays their lawyer, a good performance, one that makes you like him rather than find him repulsive. John Turturro as a grief counselor is excellent in a small but well developed role. Benicio del Toro merely fills the space as Perez' opportunistic husband; Deirde O'Connell as the widow of Bridges' partner is startingly effective.
FEARLESS moves at a slow pace, and I found myself getting angry with Bridges for neglecting his family to help Perez. The strawberry ending while definitely effective is also a tad too perfect in how it resolves Bridges' crisis.
But even with its flaws, FEARLESS is an unusual and moving film, heightened by the wonderful performances of its cast.

"Fearless" is one of those great movies I decided to watch without any expectations. And I was absolutely floored, not only by the storyline, but by the letter-perfect performances, particularly Jeff Bridges (who is under-rated in general, never more so than here) and Rosie Perez (probably her best-ever performance). This film is second only to Kieslowski's "Three Colours: Red" in my all-time favorites. Both the opening and ending scenes are haunting, heartbreaking, and at the same time, fill you with a kind of hope based on the actions of certain characters. The ending scene, for me, is one of the great single scenes of the movies, and could reduce the most stoic man to tears. If you've never seen this film, you really are missing out on something truly special. I almost forgot about what could be the pivotal scene of the film: where Bridges tries to help Perez come to terms with her guilt by strapping her into the back seat of his sedan, placing a fire extinguisher into her arms, then taking off full speed in the sedan towards a brick wall while "Where The Streets Have No Name" by U2 plays on the soundtrack. The combination is flawless and absolutely heart-wrenchingly human. This movie is just crying out for the Criterion treatment, as the pan & scan version of the current DVD is the only flaw. Don't miss it.

Fearless will make you weep but most of all it'll make you think. Career performances from Jeff Bridges and Rosie Perez.

NEED WIDESCREEN VERSION DVD!

[DW]

Without going into any deep philosophical ponderings, let's just say that if you do not come to the end of this film without being emotionally gutted from head to toe, there's something wrong. Max Klein's (Jeff Bridges) near-death-experience aboard a doomed aircraft becomes marital death for wife Laura (Isabella Rossellini) as he transcends into a ecstatic state of invulnerabilty to a lifetime shackled by fear. Carla (Rosie Perez), whose despondence is due to the death of her infant son in the same crash, is mentored by the eccentric sensibilities that liberate him from his past. Unfortunately, this liberation includes his relationship with Laura, who struggles to re-connect with a husband whose experience she only relates to as the near-death victim of a doomed marriage.

Peter Weir could have trimmed some scenes here and there to assist with the pace, but the emotional payoff of the final sequence makes the long trip worth your while. "Fearless" conveys the axiom that vulnerability and weakness is the common
thread of all mankind. Separated by invincible courage, Max Klein is dead to his loved ones, and must be brought back to life.

What happens when a man is fearless at the moment of his death? Fearless is the dramatization of the inner conflict created from facing tragic death and living through the experience. Max Klein (Jeff Bridges) and many others survive a disastrous plane crash, and all involved have to come to terms and accept that such a horrible random event has happened. Max Klein is a hero during the tragedy--lacking fear and comforting others. He leads all of the people around him to safety. Klein escapes into a fearless state of mind that is an extension of the lack of fear he experienced on the crashing plane. He is so fearless he can eat strawberries even though he was previously deadly allergic to them. Klein maintains this fearless state of mind at the expense of relationships with his wife and son. The movie drags on as Klein tries to remain a walking ghost who cannot die. When he isn't able to uphold his honesty with pushy lawyers trying to cash in on the tragedy, he dances on the roof-edge of a high-rise to bring back his fearless state of mind. He hides from his real self by helping others--like the woman who lost her baby--taking her on a surprising car ride that demonstrates she could never have held onto her baby through the plane crash. Klein is finally turned from walking ghost to his living self with the help of his wife and a strawberry.

Jeff Bridges and Carla Rodrigo give very convincing performances. Without their performances and the direction of Peter Weir this movie would only get 3/5 stars. Although the movie moves slowly because of the plot's reliance on inner conflicts, the events move from scene to scene with a moody pace reminiscent of Woody Allen's more serious movies. This movie stimulates thought about life, death, love and God but requires a patient viewer.

So emotionally raw that that watching this movie will exhaust you. Be prepared to live through a plane crash. Peter Weir is a genius.

One of the greatest films ever made, hands down.
Delves deeper in philosophy and normal life than ever before.
Peter Weir makes very interesting films, all of which require some thinking and mental growth upon watching them.

"Fearless" begins with one of the best opening sequences ever: a dishevelled man steps between rows of corn in a cornfield. In one arm he holds a baby, a young boy is holding his other hand. As he emerges from the corn onto an asphalt road, the camera pulls back to reveal what is in the field behind him... the smoking wreckage and human debris of a commercial airplane which has just crashed.

With this memorable beginning, "Fearless" quickly establishes a tone of simple beauty, honesty, and pathos in the face of disaster and tragedy, a tone which is maintained through every single scene. Though the plot of the film is important, this is a movie about people more than about events. The characters are what carry "Fearless" to the end, and the changes they go through as the story progresses are what it's all about.

The main character is the man we first saw in the cornfield. His name is Max Klein, and simply put, his world is turned upside down by the plane crash. Though he survived the crash (and in fact, as the audience learns, saved the lives of several others), he cannot accept the idea that he is still alive. He begins to experience his life as if he were an outsider to it. Something in him is changed, perhaps irrevocably so, and his journey is the main story of the film.

Max is played flawlessly by Jeff Bridges, in perhaps the finest and most nuanced role of his career. Bridges has been good in many films, but in "Fearless" he truly outdid himself. The other actors in the film also turn in excellent performances, from Isabella Rosselini as Max's wife struggling to love the new Max as she did the old one, Rosie Perez as another crash survivor who lost her child in the crash, John Turturro as a psychologist who tries to help Max, and all-too brief appearances by Tom Hulce as a delightfully self-deprecating lawyer representing the crash victims. The acting in "Fearless" is of such quality that the audience can forget that it's acting, and just allow the performances to be real.

Peter Weir's direction, always of high-quality, is honed to fine effect for "Fearless." As always, Weir uses some very powerful imagery to carry the story, but he walks the fine line of never allowing the images to overpower the story. Not a single image is there for its own sake, each shot helps to move the audience towards the conclusion. Weir's careful hand is evident throughout the film, but never moreso than in a stunningly moving plane crash sequence, in which the images have both metaphorical and literal meaning. The imagery of "Fearless" is subtle, but much of it is nonetheless unforgettable.

The music chosen for "Fearless" could not have been better. Maurice Jarre's usual soft touch, an excellent match for Weir's visual style, is used here perfectly. As for the other music... from the Gypsy Kings' joyous "Sin Ella" to U2's striving "Where the Streets Have No Name" to Henryk Gorecki's rich and moving "Symphony No. 3," each piece is chosen for its effect as stand-alone music, and also for how it fits with the images and the plot at that point. The film's climax, set to the Gorecki piece, is greatly enhanced by the music, so much so that it's now nearly impossible to imagine one without the other.

Sadly, it seems that yet another of my favorite films has been given the short shrift in terms of DVD presentation. Still, I simply cannot bring myself to give "Fearless" anything less than what it so richly deserves. There is no question that it is a five-star movie in my book, despite the fact that the DVD is disappointingly weak in terms of presentation. Shown in fullscreen "pan & scan" only, with fair picture quality and no extras to speak of, the DVD for such a fine film as "Fearless" deserves far better than this.

As a film, however, "Fearless" has remained one of my favorites ever since I first saw it. In fact, whenever I'm listing my favorite movies, "Fearless" is the name that almost always pops out of my mouth first. If I have a single favorite movie, "Fearless" would have to be it. For its lyrical beauty, its unique, well-drawn characters, and for the way it brings me to breathless tears every time I watch it, there's simply no other film quite like it.

...see this film for it's haunting score and the film's coda, which, in my opinion, has the most memorable plane crash sequence in film. Absolutely emotionally devastating. If you manage to ward off the wetworks, you're not human.